Tag: expectations

A lot of the mompreneurs I’ve worked with in my coaching career have told me that they spent quite a bit of time thinking about hiring me before actually taking the leap and doing it. Some weren’t exactly sure what life coaching was about or what a coaching relationship would look like. Some even admitted to feeling embarrassed about hiring a coach to support them, almost as if it meant they were a failure at doing what they wanted to do or being who they wanted to be in life. Well, over the next couple of blog posts, we’re going to talk about this. So if you want to be successful on your own terms, create a business that works even when you don’t, get the buy-in and support you need from your spouse and family, and spend quality time with your kids… read on!

Here are the first five reasons you should hire a life coach:

1. Boundaries. It goes without saying that time management is always going to be our #1 problem as mompreneurs because we’ve signed up for two completely full-time-with-overtime-no-time-off jobs. It’s just hard for one person to do all of that! So one of the first things I do when I work with someone is help create some boundaries. We do this by creating an “ideal schedule,” which identifies your top moneymaking talent—where you’re going to get the most bang for your buck—and then incorporates systems and routines so that you are not just aimlessly trying to work whenever you get the chance (like when the family is eating dinner or the kids are asleep or they’re at a soccer game and you’re multitasking like crazy), but learning to really focus and be intentional with your time.

2. Expectations. Once you set some boundaries, you can begin to set expectations with your family, clients, colleagues, vendors, and friends. Now everybody in your life knows that you work on certain days at certain hours, and conversely, they also know that you have downtime with your family on certain days at certain hours. Being clear with these expectations enables you to meet the expectations of others in your life without having to constantly negotiate schedules and priorities.

3. Critical time-management strategies. We talked a little bit about creating an ideal schedule, but beyond that, we need to figure out what your high pay-off actions are, how to set those high pay-off actions as one of the first things you do each day, and then how to handle errands and to-do lists of things that are not time-critical—things like housework or grocery shopping—all those “extra” things you do as a mother. We need to figure out how to incorporate all of that rather than ignoring it and hoping it will go away. If I can teach you some critical time-management strategies, I am absolutely certain I can give you more of your time to do what you want to do with your life instead of always trying to figure out where to grab a few more minutes.

4. Communication techniques. This is so, so, so important because you need the support of your spouse and your kids; you need your clients to respond well to you; you need your vendors to be on the same page as you. Communication is key to all of that. There are so many of us that have, for one reason or another, developed some unhealthy, unproductive, or just plain ineffective communication strategies. These are the sorts of things a coach can help you work on to make sure you are communicating clearly, in such a way that you get what you want, be it support from your spouse, understanding and love from your kids, or a new project from a client.

5. Business and marketing plans. I could go on and on and on about this point, but it’s one that many mompreneurs don’t want to hear a lot about. People are fundamentally scared of creating business and marketing plans, perhaps because there is something almost terrifying about writing your goals down on paper, especially if you have a fear of failure, and let’s be honest—who doesn’t? But this is so critical to the long-term success of your business. You cannot do it without a plan. I hope this has piqued your interest and perhaps even answered a few of the questions you have about just what all this life-coaching business is about anyway. If so, stay tuned—for five more reasons you should hire a life coach.

Talk to me! Which of these five points resonates with you? What could you use some help with?

Testimonials:

"So grateful for [Lara]! I was getting off track with my direction, getting overwhelmed with the revamping of my biz and all the time needed to do that right now. Thinking about priorities is what really seals it up as to where to put my time! Thanks!" - Tammy S. -

"Lara is amazing! She has helped me hone in & own the numbers of my small business over the past year. With her coaching, I have grown my net profit from $7K Q1-Q3 in 2014 to $56K in 2015. Aside from helping me set and achieve sales goals, Lara has helped me balance raising children with growing a business." - Carly G. -

"Lara's talk was so life changing for me. I still remember "Your priorities are your boss" and "When you say 'I don't have time for that,' you're really saying that's not a priority for me now." My life has changed dramatically due to her talk last year. I realized what my priorities really are, and I'm about to embark on a completely new journey next year." - Ess B. -

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14 hours agoby mombizcoachMaking whole wheat pita bread via @damn_delicious . Now for the final rise before we pop them in the oven.